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The #Selfie

And we’ll switch things up and do my 18 weeks postpartum pic right here in the beginning. (Excuse the red splotches on my skin. I got home from a run and immediately ripped my layers off and threw on the Oiselle pro kit in about 30 seconds to get this shot before Jeff had to leave for work):

18 weeks postpartum!

If you follow me on instagram or twitter, you know I love to share pics of my little ones. Maybe you also noticed I love to share the selfies. Did you know #selfie was “the word” of 2013?! I didn’t realize that until this NYE when I saw it on one of the tv specials. Then, we were sitting as a family, streaming my iPhone photos from 2013 on our tv, watching the year pass by and seeing how the kids have grown. Every 50 pics or so, some random selfie would pop up and I would be embarrassed. The selfies were almost never anything special… just something I decided was share-worthy in the post-run or post-coffee high of the moment. Seriously, photos like this kept popping up and I would cringe:

Oh hey, look, I have beading on my shirt. I gotta take a selfie!!

And this:

Not in running clothes?! Sitting awkwardly in front of a piano?! People HAVE to see this!

So on that night, I decided to stop taking so many selfies… WHAT IS THIS ADDING TO THE WORLD?! Why am I doing this?!

Then I started considering…

I love to run outside, and almost every time I go for a run I see someone taking a selfie. Many of them are runners who stop somewhere on the trail to show some amazing physical feat they are about to accomplish. “Look I’m running in 5 inches of snow!” or “This hill is enormous, and here I am ready to run to the top!” A little part of it is ridiculous, but I’m usually amused and excited the person is out exercising. If a person had to run 3 miles to a park to a certain location with “that special view” to take a selfie then run the 3 miles home, they just ran 6 miles they might not have run without it. At least that’s the way I like to imagine it.

Earlier this week, I was running on the treadmill and my favorite celebrity crush Carson Daly (yes, gotta mention him again!) did a little piece on #loveyourselfie “Show us how you see your beauty” and he said something to the effect of “search ‘beauty’ on google and you will see pictures of airbrushed supermodels. Search ‘beauty’ on instagram and you’ll see something completely different” (real life IMO. I highly recommend doing this, you will be amazed with the differences).

These things got me thinking, you know what?! Selfies are sometimes ridiculous and narcissistic, but can also be beautiful. It’s a way for people to feel connected to others with similar interests. A way for normal people to show themselves for who they are and what they are feeling in the moment. Sure, there are filters, and camera angles that can really change a person, but not many people I know are airbrushing their social media pics. And that’s kind of beautiful and refreshing. So… I figured I’d change my attitude to “go on with your bad self-ie!”

And with that, before bed last night, I took another ridiculous selfie… one of me in bed in my Oiselle Podium Pajamas, and sent it to my mom with the message “Love you, goodnight”.

6 thoughts on “The #Selfie”

I actually really agree with that. Part of the reason I like instagram photos is because besides the filters, it’s really hard to airbrush and edit photos. They are raw and real. I don’t care for people that post multiple selfies of the same thing daily but enjoy people’s selfies for the most part.

I have always had mixed feelings about selfies but I think you’re right– I love snapping one when I finish a really tough run and seeing others accomplish feats as well. You’ll probably really like this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFkm1Hg4dTI

Wells looks adorable. You look great! I think selfies are okay, but I think some people take it to the extreme. I like sarcastic selfies the most! I can’t think of an embarassing selfie, but I do remember the most difficult one: I was trying to take a photo of my back (with race-ready Oiselle tattoos) in the mirror. It probably took me more than 15 minutes.